Local entries into national baseball rankings

Colorado has a couple of entries into the FAB 50 preseason national high school baseball rankings on StudentSports.com.

ThunderRidge, the defending Class 5A state champion out of Highlands Ranch, is No. 28. And Fort Collins’ Rocky Mountain is No. 48.

ThunderRidge boasts the likes of shortstop Brody Westmoreland, headed to San Diego State; pitcher Tyler Loptien, also bound for SDSU; and pitcher Andrew Jones, signed with BYU.

As for Rocky Mountain, Carl Stajduhar and Tyler Stevens have signed with New Mexico State. The Lobos were state runners-up in 2013, losing 2-1 to the Grizzlies. They gave up two runs in the top of the seveth inning.

Neil Devlin, originally from the Philadelphia area, has covered high school sports in Colorado for more than 30 years, writing about the people, athletes and events that encompass the Rocky Mountain prep sports world.